Museo Marsiliano, Bologna

Ferdinando Marsili (1658-1730) was a scientist, traveler and a mercenary. He fought against the Turks in the army of Emperor Leopold I contributing to victory not just as a soldier but with engineering works. Although he traveled selling his fighting services, he did not neglect his scientific studies, especially of waters and seas: these, for example, are some of his treatises: Observations Around the Thracian Bosphorus or the True Canal of Constantinople, Physical Histories of the Sea, and Physical Observations around Lake Garda, known in ancient times as Lake Benacus. The city, in return, has dedicated this museum to the man which contains documents, writings and relics of the founder of oceanography. Admission: Free.